Bees are being poisoned by 57 pesticides used in the EU

Bees are being poisoned by 57 different pesticides currently licensed for use in the European Union, according to new research.

In a new study published in the Journal of Chromatography, researchers from Poland's National Veterinary Institute have implemented a new test that allowed them to analyse exactly which of the 200 pesticides licensed for use in the EU play a role in honeybee deaths.

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Their findings revealed that the bees they tested are being poisoned by 57 different pesticides. "Bee health is a matter of public concern," said lead author Tomasz Kiljanek "Bees are considered critically important for the environment and agriculture by pollinating more than 80 percent of crops and wild plants in Europe. "We wanted to develop a test for a large number of pesticides currently approved for use in the European Union to see what is poisoning the bees."

The method, called QuEChERS, is more commonly used to detect pesticides in food, and can simultaneously test for 200 pesticides, as a well as a number of additional compounds that form as the pesticides break down. This allowed the team to see exactly which pesticides, either individually or in combination, play a role in the recent critical decline of European honeybee populations.

They used the method to investigate 73 honeybee poisoning incidents, in which they identified 57 pesticides present in the dead bees. The researchers tested for pesticides including both plant protection products and veterinary products such a fipronil, used to control bee-killing Varroa destructor mite infestations in hives.

The pesticides detected in the poisoned honeybees include Chlorpyrifos, an organophosphate pesticide that has previously been linked to bee deaths, in 38 cases, Dimethoate, another organophosphate, in 30 cases, and neonicotinoid Clothianidin, which is partially banned in the EU but is still authorised for use in the UK, in 22 cases.